Solar System
Solar System means the system of the Sun. All bodies under the gravitational infuence of our local star, the Sun, together with the Sun, form the Solar system. The largest bodies, including Earth are called planets. Often smaller cool bodies, called satelites or moons, orbit a planet. Bodies smaller than planets that orbit the Sun are classed as asteroids if they are rocky or metallic, comets if they are mostly ice and dust, and meteroids if they are very small. The Sun *It is one of more than 100 billion stars in the giant spiral galaxy called the Milky Way. *It is the centre of the Solar System. Its mass is about 740 times as much as that of all the planets combined. *It continuously gives off energy in several forms-visible light, invisible infrared, ultr-violet, X-reays and gamma rays, cosmicrays, radio waves and plasma. The sun generally moves in almost circular orbits around the galactic centre at an average speed of about 250 km per second. *It takes 250 million years to complete one revolution round the centre. This period is called a cosmic year. *It's energy is generated by nuclear fusion in its interior . It is calculated that the Sun consumes about 4 milliontonnes of hydrogen every second. At this rate, it is expected to burn out its stock of hydrogen in about 5 billion years and turn into a red giant. Sunspots Sunspots are dark patches noticed on the surface of the Sun. They appear dark because they are cooler (around 1500 degree C ) than the surface of the Sun which has a temperature of about 6000 degree C. The largest spot every measured (April, 1974) covered 18,130 million sq kms or approximately 0.7% of the Sun's visible surface. The life periods of these spots also vary. They may last from a few hours to many weeks. Polar Auroras Polar Auroras are two auroras, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights and the Aurora Australis or Suouthern Lights. These are lights that sweep across the sky in waves or streamers of folds. They are very often multi-coloured and provide one of the finest spectacles in nature. They occur in the Arctic and the Antarctic regions restpectively. The magnestosphere is the earth's magnetic shield. It was at first called the Van Allen Belts after the American physicist, James Van Allen who discoverd them in 1959. Van Allen's analysis of data from Explorer and Pioneer rockets found two belts of high intensity radiation in the upper atmosphere. Theese belts were a part of a large band of readiation called the magnetosphere. It extended far out to about 64,000 kilometres form the Earth's surface. Extrasolar Planets There are billions of stars and countless solar systems in our galaxy. So far Extrasolar planets orbiting more than 180 distant stars. The first planets outside our solar system were spotted in 1990, in orbit around a dying, radiation-spewing star very different from our Sun. Starting in 1995 with "51 Pegasi b" the first extrasolar, or exoplanet, discoverd around a normal star, scientists have found alien worlds that are large, gassy giants and rocky. Controversy There is controversey of a 10th planet in our Solar System, Planet X or "Nibiru" as many people call it. This planet, supposing to be close to the size of Jupiter, has attracted the orbit of a Dwarf Sun (A burnt out sun that has been reduced to a luke-warm rock.), along with having five other planetoids and moons orbiting it. This planet was originally speculated to be the end of Earth on December 21st, 2012. However, as reported by the many believers, this is impossible. The terms of the collision are not met, and are stated as such; *In order for Nibiru to strike Earth, it would have to be orbitally aligned with the Orbital Plane. According to the theory, Nibiru is not on the same orbital plane as the other planets. Therefore, the planet Nibiru has a minimum chance of succession, at 0.00000000134% chance of accurately hitting Earth. A number placed on this, 1 in 290,000,000. *If Nibiru was to remotely strike the Earth, and at the time of occurance, the planet would be visible by the naked eye from Earth. It would be roughly 1/10 the size of the moon, as of April 2nd, 2012. Due to the fact that we can't visually see it, this disproves the theory. *A planet the size of Niribu would not cross the orbital paths of the Four Gas Giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.) The combined gravity of the four planets would re-align the orbital path of Nibiru, and in such would most likely place it somewhere between Jupiter and Uranus. It will not be further than Neptune. *If Niribu did slip the intense gravity of the Gas Giants, the sun's gravity would be far more powerful. It would be impossible for the Earth to gravitationally pull a planet of that size and mass toward it, and in such cannot affect a planet the size of Nibiru. These are all speculations brought by people who believe the world will end on the year 2012. While no one can be certain, this option of demise has been scientifically proven wrong. The chance of this happening is 1in 56,000,000,000. The reason why is being that Nibiru is not a confirmed planet. Category:Page added by Ultimate Cell Category:Page created by Ultimate Cell Category:Facts